Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1887-03-17

entrance into certain circles in society, but the
steps requisite he never viii have patience or
wisdom to take. You might just as well carry
candle around the field aud thiak it is Ggricul-
ture, because it is light shiEny on crops. Thous-
ands of people think they wish 70 be Christians;
they don't That is the Interpretation given
much of the instruction Of Jesus Alen came TO
him and said: Lord, we viii follow thee whittier
soever thou gocst" NO you won't; you don't
know that aln destined 10 suffering, poverty,
persecution, death; you tain., ,aat am going TO
be royal pegsonage and shower honor8 and
gold" "Ah,' says one, 4 viii follow thee but
suffer me first" All there is that "if" and but"
in life. Ten thousand people say, II would be a
Christian it," and that settles it. Il want TO be
Christian but'-yes, that settles it again. And
so Christ was surrounded by swarms Of persons.
following him around, wishing and wishing, with
various degrees of eXcitability ia them, and he
put them ell off; he would have nothing 10 do
with them. LET him take up his cross and fol-
low me, whatsoever would be my disciple" There
Is something TO do, something to prove and TO
wish. There is a great distinction between wish
ing. then, and willing; for when man wills the
purpose carries with it tho instrument TO effect
itself. You wish to be q Christian; do you viii to
be one? Your wishing is rehabilitation IL win be
accomplishment
Now, Christian life IS the Only reasonable one,
whether you regard it rs a duty or as a means of
the greatest satisfaction; that is to say we were
made to be Christians and being Christian is
simply putting yourself in those relations to your
self, 70 your fellow mon and 70 your God for
which you were created. Did you over undertake
to take apart watch? That is very easy. Did
you ever undertake Go put it together againY That
is not so easy You don't know which screw goes
in which hole; you don't know exactly which
wheel goes in first; but thing Is perfectly cer
tain, and that is that nothing else will 10 together
but that of which the watch was made, and each
wheel was destined to one place and to one avoca-
ton, and If you can bring them together, accord
ing to the intent of the maker, it will perform,
and otherwise it viii not. NON, man WIS built
with great deal more care than ever o watch
was. He has definite relations TO himself. A man
was made to live with men, and there IL only one
way and one principle on which men can live to-
gether-kindness love. Justice means love;
Justice is not something else; and we have test,
an example, revelation in Jesus, in the Old Tes-
lament as well as in the New, but in the New with
clearer emphasis and larger light, seeing there
how we have got to live toward our fellow men,
what are the interlacng relations and what is the
predominant spirit In which we are to treat them.
Thou shalt love thy neighbor as myself" Self
love is made to be the very model and type of
that affection which you to give TO all people.
Then we know perfectly well that we are aflianced
to yet higher beings than man and TO the in
visible cosmos as well as to the visible; and
we cannot live when we are out Of joint with
any of these relations in ourselves ard to our
neighbors and to our God. Now, l say it is reas-
enable that we should endeavor to live after this
type upon which we were created. This is reas-
enable A great many men can, but, to the weak,
Christianity is nothing but priestcraft, and it is
not reasonable for man to be damned because
he could not gulp and swallow all the dogmas and
all the forms. But that is wido of the mark.
True Christianity means living in those relations
for which we were reated-harmonizGton of
ourselves harmonzation Of our relations TO our
fellow men, harmonization OF our relation TO the
invisible future. And say that is reasonable; l
say more than that that it has in it the inherent,
the greatest amount Of happiness. For although,
for temporary reasons, q man may defer to his
passions, taking the average and the whole life,
he loses rather than he is the loser now, but suf-
fers then. A man may think, because he runs
through disSipatea period and then reforms,
that the dissipation is all over. No, no, no; the
causes sink under and run subterraneously as it
were; and there is many man that has grumbled
at 45 years of age from the misconduct of 20
years. You know that thAre are the seventeen
year locusts; they lay their eggs, and those eggs
lie incubating In the ground for seventeen years;
then they hatch and come forth. A man may by
evil deeds lay the eggs that will hatch twenty
years after that, and as general truth think it
is demonstrabe by actual observation end ex-
periencc that the true happiness of 4 man
lies in that self control, ia that virtue In
that integrity, in that love power which
is the substance Of religion Itself Il is not learn
ing your catechisrn, it is not learning your verses
of faith, it is not going through ecclesiastical
achievements. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God and thy neighbor as myself" Therefore
you must lift yourself and he that lifts himself
shows, not by Partially toward the lower and
worst features in himself, but toward his whole
self-the regent understanding, the moral power
and element and spiritual in him. Now, when q
man has this presented to him and he is urged TO
enter upon a Christian life as the only honorable
n1r- hat hauf I,a atf
ton in it, the only that carries in It tho idea
of duty and gratitude toward God, how thought
lessly men heed that. Tonight how many are
there of you that say in thus looking over the
sphere of life-life to come: Il am resolved what
to do" Bearing in mind what resolution means
and what il includes, how many men can say to-
night, Eyes, I am resolved what to do" There
are very few OF you that would say, II am resolved
not to be Christian" That is very hazardous
thing, which very few men care 70 resolve. Men
may say, on the other hand, II hope some time
to be Christian; feel sometimes as il | would
like to be one; wish was ones" just as lazy
man wishes he had the products of Industry. But
how many men ere there here tonight that can
say, Il am resolved what TO do II am resolved
what to do"
Are you then resolved at once to become q
Christian? Can be o Christian at onces In one
sense, no; in another sense, yes Nobody ever
learned q trade at a blow, but he can begin this
day; no man ever became a scholar by resolution,
but he never can become ono without resolution;
it is a complex one and a constantly repeating
one, ancillary resolutions upholding the main one
Arc you resolved to be q Christian to this extent
Il will begin tonight? II am resolved as Far Gs
I have light and as far as l know my way am
determined, God knows l am determined to
square my life hereafter on Christian principles.
am resolved to be q Christian man" Now, this
may include churches may be O Roman Cath
Ole and resolve it, or Protestant and stay out Of
that church, and stay out of any other church
This resolution doesn't mean will DO a Christian
like TO this scheme or that scheme. according TO
this church that church; it simply means ia its
simplest form, its primary condition, II viii reg
ulate my life both inside and out, according TO
the principles laid down for me by the Lord Jesus
Christ" Is not that very simple thng2 But
what does il carry with It? It carries In the first
place, this: II will therefore begin by excluding
everything that know will hinder this resolu-
tion; from a consciously wicked way, 1 viii begin
as a part Of the fulnllment Of this resolution; l
will stop" That is the meaning Of the repent
ance John began and Christ took up. Repent, for
the kingdom of heaven is at hand; that is TO say,
/ will get over every known wrong that Is
inconsistent with this purpose that I have
formed; / am going TO live as a Christian
man. a Christian woman; and il there
be that which know TO be fundamentally wrong
/ shall carry out my resolution by repenting or
turning away from that. And then ia the next
place., FESoiutiyu 70 Dc u IIIiati8N bppilcS lii-
mediately; it is not that will be Christian next
year or by and by, OF long timc-death, but il is
going or, beginning at once to live. as far rs
knc~ how, righteous. Do you mean, then, TO
take the steps that are necessary? Are you ready
10 begin your attempt to live Christian life by
saying in sincerity, God, show me the way give
me thy helps" Are you willing? Not to say your
prayers; there are great many prayers said;
great many too few prayers that arc felt and nat
true. Is there sincerity in you: would 70 Gcd
that you have spiritual rcflling and the sustain
ing power Of the whole spirit, that you have the
certainty that he was working ia me TO viii and
to do his good pleasure Are you ready 70 begin
your Christian life then by opening the word Of
God and reading, not chapter, nor verse or
two every day, but TO make it the line OF your
counsels When any great combination, scheme,
is being formed in New YorS-Gny syndicate
there is always lawyer and they win never take
q single step until they consult him, and he is
about oil the while; he is the man Of their coun-
sci; it's complicated thing, and great deal de-
ponds upon It, and they cannot afford to go wrong
Are you willing to take the New Testament as tho
of.